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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28661934">The Inevitable</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velace/pseuds/Velace'>Velace</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Domestic nonsense, F/F, Fluff, Humour, Plotless, and hopefully it remains that way, the usual</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 04:09:17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>16,620</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28661934</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velace/pseuds/Velace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina breaks up with Robin. Emma breaks up with Hook. Will they finally get their shit together? Of course they will, what a stupid question.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Evil Queen | Regina Mills/Emma Swan</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>130</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>612</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Another get together fic. Shocking, I know, but the choice was between writing this or not writing at all, and I chose the less infuriating option... for me.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Hook gets up from the table and storms off, Emma drops her chin in hand and sips her strawberry milkshake through a straw. It had tasted wrong when he’d sat down for their lunch, but now it tastes like a reward for finally doing the right thing. It tastes like relief, like freedom as she watches him through the window before he turns the corner at the end of the street and disappears from sight.</p><p>The break up hadn’t quite gone the way she’d expected it to when she crept out of bed this morning before he woke, but it’s done now and she’s already feeling better than she has in months. They’d never been right for each other, him especially for her. She used to tell everyone he’d changed, but she’d known it was a lie the whole time. She hadn’t wanted to be alone, but after New York- after certain realizations she’d had since she returned to Storybrooke with Henry, she decided that it was better to be alone than with someone she could barely bring herself to like, let alone love.</p><p>Besides, the fact she’s in love with another had already started to come between them. Hook didn’t know that’s what it was, but Emma knew- Emma knows; the space Neal had left in her heart over a decade ago had been filled long before Hook came along.</p><p>“Are you alright?”</p><p>Gaze flicking from the window to the voice, the straw slips from her mouth as she smiles. “Never been better.”</p><p>Regina smiles back. “Mind if I sit?”</p><p>Eyes lingering a moment before letting them wander to the counter where Robin stands scowling, Emma looks back at Regina. “I thought you were waiting for…” She juts her chin out, nodding in his direction.</p><p>Regina shakes her head and slides into the opposite side of the booth. “We had our own… discussion this morning,” she explains, her fingers twitching until Emma pushes the milkshake towards her. She takes a sip and sighs softly, contently,  then adds, “The outcome was similar.”</p><p>Hope flares brightly in Emma’s chest, but she lets it settle, humming thoughtfully. They’ve been single at the same time plenty of times in the past and nothing has ever come of it. Well, almost nothing; they <em> are </em> friends now, after all. They never seem to have time for each other when someone else is in the picture, but when it’s just them, they have all the time in the world and good things start to happen.</p><p>“Not your soulmate then?” She murmurs eventually, curiously. She’d thought it all bull from the get go, but she’d kept her opinion to herself for the sake of their friendship.</p><p>Playing with the straw, Regina takes another sip before raising a shoulder and letting it fall. “Maybe,” she replies, meeting her gaze. “More than likely we missed our chance, or it was never meant to be… romantic to begin with.”</p><p>Nodding, Emma says, “Well, more friends can’t hurt, right?”</p><p>Another sigh, though this one is sadder than the last, and Regina shrugs again. “Perhaps I’m simply destined to be alone.”</p><p>“Nah,” Emma responds immediately. She refuses to believe that, especially considering she’s <em> right here </em>. “The number of people who deserve you is just so dismally small that it’s taking the universe a while to find them.”</p><p>Regina looks at her with soft, soft eyes. “And what about you?”</p><p>Emma shrugs this time. “My pool’s a lot bigger, I’m nothing special.”</p><p>A sound she can’t quite name seems to stick in Regina’s throat, and then there’s a hand reaching across the table and entwining their fingers. Regina squeezes gently. “You are,” she insists. “I will never understand the low opinion you have of yourself, Emma Swan, but you <em> are </em> special. You are… wonderful, compassionate, brave, loyal- you are so many things it would take me an eternity to name. That idiot never deserved you.”</p><p>Emma chuckles, her chest having warmed with every word. She rubs her thumb along Regina’s index finger. “I really am alright,” she says. “I’m the one that broke up with him. I know I deserve better.”</p><p>“Good.” Regina smiles and squeezes her hand again. “You’ve been missed at dinner.”</p><p>“Ah, I see.” Emma smirks. “Without your human garbage disposal, all those leftovers are going to waste, huh?”</p><p>Regina snorts. “Yes, Emma, I’m being nice to you because I abhor the waste of food,” she drawls, then frowns. “I mean… I do-”</p><p>She really does.</p><p>Laughing and nodding, Emma interrupts, “I know, and anytime you want me to come over, I’ll be there.”</p><p>The fingers in hers tighten and usually dark, brown eyes brighten a little as Regina says, “Tonight.”</p><p>The warmth spreads from Emma’s chest, up along her neck and into her cheeks. She didn’t think they’d be back on track quite this fast, but she isn’t about to derail them. If she’d had any doubts about Regina and Robin truly being over, then they’re definitely gone now. “Okay.”</p><p>“Same time.”</p><p>“Okay,” she repeats as she starts to grin.</p><p>“You’re adorable.” Smiling, Regina gives her hand one last squeeze before she let’s go and rises from the booth. “I have to go back to work, but I’ll see you tonight.” At Emma’s nod, she turns to leave, but then she turns back and narrows her eyes. “Don’t you dare waste our milkshake.”</p><p>Emma salutes. “Yes ma’am.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>She shows up two hours earlier than she usually would because it’s her day off, and also because she can. When she knocks and the door swings open, she expects Regina and maybe a question of why she’s so early, but what she gets instead is a fifteen year old almost tackling her off the porch and a shout of, “Ma!”</p><p>“Wow. Okay. Hey Kid.” He’s never been so excited to see her, and she’s a little afraid to ask why today is any different.</p><p>“You’re here for dinner, right?” She nods. “Oh my god, yes! Finally!”</p><p>He hugs her and, yeah it feels nice and all, but it’s no less confusing. “Alright, calm down, you monkey,” she says, unwrapping him from around her as she raises an eyebrow.  “You wanna fill me in?”</p><p>“He’s a vegan!”</p><p>“Oh.” She grimaces. “Ew.”</p><p>“Right?!” He grabs onto her shoulders, his expression as serious as can be. “It was hell, ma.”</p><p>She can believe it. Hell, she lived it for three months or so in a foster home so many years ago. It was, in fact, one of the reasons she ran away from them. What isn’t believable, is that Regina would force him to eat things he didn’t like for the sake of the tree stump. “Your Mom made you...”</p><p>“Sometimes she ordered pizza when he left,” he admits, “or in the morning, she’d cook too much bacon for breakfast and make me sandwiches to take to school… so no, but still!”</p><p>Rolling her eyes, Emma opens her mouth to call him a drama queen, but then she catches sight of Regina over his shoulder, and grins. “Hey.”</p><p>“Hey yourself,” she replies, grabbing the back of Henry’s shirt and pulling him back inside. “Homework, young man.”</p><p>He groans, but it takes no more than Regina saying his name in the way that Moms do for him to huff and drag himself off to do as he’s told.</p><p>“Drama queen,” she calls after him, receiving what sounds to Emma like him blowing a raspberry that makes Regina laugh before her attention returns, fully, to Emma. “You’re early,” she says, amusement in her gaze and in her smile. “Miss me?”</p><p>Emma considers lying, but it’s only a moment before she shrugs and admits, “Yes.” She steps forward and does something she has, ever since she’d realized the depths of her feelings for the mother of her son, refused to do. She hugs her.</p><p>She hears the hitch of breath, and then Regina is hugging her back and saying her name in a way that is decidedly not motherly in the slightest. The embrace is tight- almost too tight, but it feels good, so Emma enjoys it for as long as she can.</p><p>It’s longer than she expects, but nowhere near long enough as Regina eventually pulls back. She doesn’t go far, which is some consolation. Her hands grip Emma’s biceps as she looks into her eyes, searching for… something. It’s at least a full minute before she must find whatever it is and says, “I missed you too.”</p><p>Emma grins again, reminded of that ever simmering warmth as it burns in her chest. “Bet you never thought you’d say that to me.”</p><p>Regina smirks. “I think I’ll leave you to wonder,” she teases before stepping back entirely and inviting her in. Emma brushes passed her, stilling when she feels those hands on her shoulders and Regina slowly peels her jacket off. “Much better.”</p><p>She bites her lower lip. She’d worn a tank top because she knows that even if Regina doesn’t feel quite the same way, she <em> does </em> appreciate certain areas of her body. She murmurs, “I meet with your approval, then?”</p><p>Regina hums, hanging her jacket in the hall closet before she presses a hand to the small of her back and guides her to the kitchen. Once there, she gestures to a stool where Emma sits, watching as Regina walks to the fridge and retrieves a beer from within, sliding it across the counter to her.</p><p>Catching it, Emma glances down at the label, and smiles. It’s her favourite.</p><p>She pops the cap off with her belt and takes a long pull from the bottle, eyes closing with the taste. It’s been months since she’d had anything decent to drink. Hook preferred rum, and somehow it had ended up being the only thing she kept stocked in her house.</p><p>“God, that’s good.” Hearing the soft, throated chuckle, she opens her eyes. Regina is staring at her as if she’s something precious, and it causes her cheeks to warm once again. “What?”</p><p>Head shaking, Regina smiles and turns away as she begins humming a tune Emma can’t quite place, and sets about preparing their dinner.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>After dinner they watch Henry play games for a while, none of them in the mood to sit through a movie. Emma is full from dinner, having thoroughly stuffed her face with what she considers gourmet burgers, and feeling buzzed from the numerous bottles of beer Regina had steadily been feeding her since she arrived. She’s sitting close enough to Regina to feel her body heat and with all the sensations combined, she’s feeling unsurprisingly sleepy.</p><p>“Can I stay?”</p><p>“Yes,” Regina replies without hesitation before turning a page in the book she’d found somewhere between Henry switching from the game that seemed to entail shooting zombies in the face and little else, to one where he played a group of elderly women wanted by the government for… some reason. </p><p>Emma had only kind of been paying attention.</p><p>“I don’t think I can make it to the guest room,” she says and tips sideways, leaning her head on Regina’s shoulder. “I’m so full.”</p><p>“You did eat three burgers when a normal person would have stopped at one.”</p><p>“I sure did,” she declares, closing her eyes as she pats her stomach proudly. “They were delicious.”</p><p>There’s one of those chuckles she’s so fond of, and then she feels a cheek atop her head. “You’re more than I bargained for.”</p><p>“Is that a good thing?” She wonders aloud.</p><p>It <em> sounds </em> like a good thing.</p><p>“Most of the time.”</p><p>“Hmm.” She moves her head, her nose brushing Regina’s jaw. “You’re exactly what I hoped for.”</p><p>She decides then and there that whatever happens, she’s done putting up roadblocks. No more dating other people, no more running when things get too serious. She’ll tell the truth, admit to her feelings when she’s feeling them, and act when the situation calls for it.</p><p>When Regina raises her head to gaze down at her, Emma leans up and lightly kisses her cheek. “I’m off to bed.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Regina watches her, her eyes somewhat darker than usual as Emma stands and stretches. “Any requests for breakfast?”</p><p>Smiling, Emma shakes her head. “I’m sure I’ll love whatever you decide,” she says, walking over to their son and ruffling his hair. “Night kid.”</p><p>“Night Ma.”</p><p>Leaving the den, she makes her way upstairs to the guest room and quickly strips down to her shorts before climbing into bed. She sighs, breathing in the scent that surrounds her as she drifts off to the sound of someone ascending the stairs.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This would've been ready yesterday if I didn't care about the word count, like I told myself I wouldn't, but I'm a liar and I do, so it wasn't.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Emma.”</p><p>Having felt the bed dip, the whisper of her name doesn’t surprise her. She’s been awake for a while now, her head throbbing steadily. She’d buried it under her pillow and has refused to move ever since, not even for the full bladder that’s been threatening to burst for the last thirty minutes or so. </p><p>“Mmm.”</p><p>A hand brushes between her shoulder blades. “Wake up.”</p><p>“No,” she mumbles, muscles flexing beneath the warm palm as Regina strokes her back.</p><p>“I made pancakes.”</p><p>Adding her stomach to the parts of her body she’s ignoring, Emma pretends not to hear her. She knows if she stands up at any point in the near future, she’ll suffer for it. It’s the price of drinking too much the night before, and one she refuses to pay for as long as possible.</p><p>“Emma.” She feels a tug on the pillow and reluctantly let’s it go, squeezing her eyes shut as the light from the window tries to blind her. “Stop being lazy.” </p><p>Lazy? She scowls. She’s in <em> pain</em>.</p><p>She stealthily slips her arm behind her and around Regina’s back, and uses her hip to flip Regina onto her side in front of her. “Emma!”</p><p>Flinching, she shifts, raising her hand to cover Regina’s face as she buries her own in Regina’s neck. “Shh. Sleep,” she mumbles into soft skin.</p><p>“I’m not tired,” Regina grouses, smacking her arm and pushing it away.</p><p>Emma drapes it across her waist and tries to burrow deeper into her neck. “You smell nice.”</p><p>There’s a moment of silence, and then fingers begin to card through her hair. “Do I?”</p><p>“Mhmm,” Emma hums as the impromptu massage brings relief to her head. She inhales deeply. “You’re lovely.”</p><p>“Am I?”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>Silence reigns for a few moments longer, though the fingers continue to stroke through her hair, occasionally kneading her scalp. Eventually, Regina questions, “You’re still asleep, aren’t you?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Her voice is a tad too high when she replies, “No?”</p><p>Emma opens her eyes and raises her head, a smile curling her mouth as brown eyes widen. “No,” she repeats, darting forward and kissing a warm cheek before she springs up from the bed and disappears into the ensuite bathroom.</p><p>A few minutes later, she returns to the bedroom, surprised to find Regina still in the bed. Hands going to her hips, Emma teases her. “Stop being lazy, Regina, there are pancakes to eat.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Blinking, as if coming out of a fog, Regina shakes her head. “What?”</p><p>Chewing the inside of her cheek, curious, Emma dismisses her stomach for a little longer and climbs back onto the bed. “Where’d you go?” She asks, crawling towards her.</p><p>Gaze flicking down, Regina stares and Emma, surprised but no less delighted, chuckles. “Ah.”</p><p>It’s things like this that give her hope. Regina may not be madly in love with her, but she’s at least <em> interested </em>, which is more than Emma had hoped when she first realized her own feelings.</p><p>“You’re usually wearing significantly more,” Regina murmurs as Emma stills beside her. “It… seeing so much…” She sighs. “You’re very muscular.”</p><p>Emma grins. “My sleepovers are usually planned,” she reasons, leaning back on her shins. “And with all the villains we’ve had to deal with, not to mention chasing Pongo around town at least three times a week on <em> top </em> of my already pretty gruelling workouts, I’m honestly shocked I don’t look like a bodybuilder by now.”</p><p>“I’m glad you don’t,” Regina confesses, pushing herself up finally and rising from the bed. “I doubt I’d appreciate it as much.” She bends down then and presses the lightest of kisses to Emma’s jaw, making her heart thud rapidly against her chest. “Much as I hate to say it; get dressed and come downstairs.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Emma gets dressed, she also wolfs down four pancakes and at least a litre of orange juice before she switches to coffee, and has three cups in quick succession. Throughout, she heaps ample praise on Regina, who blushes and tries to hide her fluster behind eye rolls and snappy little comments that only serve to amuse both Emma and Henry.</p><p>When it’s time for work and Emma’s retrieving her jacket from the hall closet, Regina’ waits for her to put it on before leaning in and kissing her again, only this time on the corner of her mouth. Emma loses her breath for nearly a full minute before she offers a goofy smile, kisses her cheek in return, and just barely resists the desire to melt into a puddle at the blinding smile she receives before she practically floats out the door.</p><p>Her mother is at the station, having come to collect her father after his night shift. She immediately zeroes in on her when Emma saunters into the room. “Good morning, sweetie,” she says. “Nice night?”</p><p>Emma, squinting suspiciously, asks, “Why? What’ve you heard?”</p><p>Snow chuckles. “Not a lot,” she admits. “Only that you broke up with Hook and a few minutes later seemed extremely cozy with our favourite Mayor. Red said she invited you to dinner.”</p><p>“She did,” Emma replies slowly, hesitant to share. Regina and Snow are kinda- sorta friends of some description, but she has no idea how her mother might react to news of her feelings for her former arch-nemesis.</p><p>“Don’t tell me you’re finally making your move.”</p><p>She blinks. Rapidly. “What?”</p><p>Snow gives her this coy look. “I also heard she broke up with Robin.”</p><p>“Um.” Okay, so maybe her mother already knows and is… encouraging her to get her shit together finally. Emma shakes her head. “Did I stumble into an alternate universe without realizing it?”</p><p>Smirking, Snow replies, “Not to my knowledge, though I suppose anything is possible in this town.” She raises an eyebrow. “How was it? Can I start planning the wedding yet?”</p><p>“Snow,” her father finally chimes in, much to Emma’s relief. “Even if they’ve admitted their feelings for each other, I don’t think either of them would be interested in getting married.”</p><p>Emma stares at him, speechless. He’s right, at least on her part. She’s never been the type to want that, although if Regina did- well, it doesn’t matter at the moment, but that her father knows that about her when they’ve never talked about it is even more surprising than the two of them being on board with the idea.</p><p>“Uh.” She points a thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to her office. “I’m gonna just… go… and do… stuff.”</p><p>They both ignore her, Snow’s mouth gaping as she gazes down at David with a look of betrayal. Feigned or otherwise, Emma doesn’t know or care, happy to take advantage of the distraction as she ducks into her office. She closes the door and throws herself into the chair behind her desk, releasing a groan that’s one part relief, and another part exasperation.</p><p>Marriage.</p><p>Honestly.</p><p> </p><p>An hour or so later, Regina sends her a text. </p><p> </p><p>
  <b> <em>Join me for lunch?</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> Sure, what time? </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>11.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> That’s not lunch time, Regina. </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>It is now, Emma.</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><p>Practically hearing the smirk in the words, Emma grins to herself.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Diner? </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>I don’t feel like cooking, so yes.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> Shame, but I’ll be there ;) </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Good x</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> :D xxx </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Dork.</em> </b>
</p><p>
  <em> You love me. </em>
</p><p>
  <b> <em>Perhaps.</em> </b>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Unfortunately, when the time came to join Regina at the diner, Emma was down at the docks. She’d been called to break up a fist-fight between two workers, one of which was apparently sleeping with the other one’s sister. Why it was any of the guy’s business who his sister slept with was beyond Emma, but the outcome was all the same. She dragged them back to the station and tossed them into separate cells until they both calmed down.</p><p>Which is going to take a while if their continued shouting is any indication.</p><p>“Would you shut the fuck up?” She groans after what has been a solid twenty minutes of listening to the two bickering on and off. “Jesus christ.”</p><p>“Yeah, Chris,” one of them sneers, “shut the fuck up.”</p><p>“I believe, Mister Thomas, she was speaking to you as well.” Emma’s head snaps up with the drawl, their yelling having masked the sound of the heels she would’ve heard normally. Regina closes the door to her office and sets a couple of bags on her desk. “I hope you’re hungry.”</p><p>Emma smiles. “Always,” she says, peering into the closest bag. Her stomach rumbles loudly at the heavy scent of cheese that emerges, her brow furrowing. “Is that mac and cheese?” Regina nods. “But Granny doesn’t-”</p><p>“I changed my mind,” she interrupts. “I took two hours for lunch instead of one, and I had some time to spare before you returned from the docks.” She shrugs. “I thought you might prefer it to what you usually order at the diner.”</p><p>Taking the container from the bag, Emma peels off the lid and sighs as she frees the fork taped to the bottom of the lid. “You’re too good to me.”</p><p>“Remember that when I ask you to take Henry tonight.”</p><p>Fork halfway to her mouth, she pauses and squints up at her. “Why?”</p><p>“I have dinner reservations.”</p><p>“Oh.” Stomach dropping, no longer hungry, Emma puts the fork down.</p><p>“I know it’s my week with him,” Regina continues, “but your mother insists we haven’t spent enough time together.”</p><p>
  <em> Wait. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Mother? </em>
</p><p> “You’re having dinner with my mother?”</p><p>“Yes...” Regina stares at her, forehead creasing with concern. “Is… is that a problem?”</p><p>Emma strangles the shout of joy and picks the fork back up, shoving the mac and cheese still clinging to it into her mouth. She sighs again because everything Regina cooks tastes like heaven, so how can she not?</p><p>“It’s not a problem,” she answers. “I mean, as long as she doesn’t piss you off…” Which is always a possibility when it comes to her mother. Snow has a gift. “I can take the kid. He knows?”</p><p>Regina hesitates before she nods, still staring as if she thinks Emma a puzzle that needs solving. “I messaged him earlier,” she explains when Emma shoves another bite into her mouth. “He said he’ll come by the station after school.”</p><p>“Alright.” Again, Emma pauses. Usually when they have lunch, Regina does more than stand there and gaze at her like a science experiment. She nudges the container aside and reaches for the other bag. “You brought enough food for you, right?”</p><p>“Mmm, there’s a chicken salad in there,” Regina replies and finally sits down, resting an arm on her desk, chin in hand. Watching. “The thermos is for you. Coffee.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Pulling out the salad, Emma pushes it across the desk to her. “You eat like a rabbit.”</p><p>“Rabbits don’t eat meat and you eat like a child.”</p><p>“Yeah?” Smirking, Emma pulls the last thing out of the bag. “This must be mine, then.”</p><p>Regina narrows her eyes. “Ginger beer is a perfectly respectable drink for adults.”</p><p>“Oh, so that’s why it’s given to kids when they have sore tummies,” Emma replies, nodding. “Makes sense.”</p><p>“If you don’t shut up, I’ll give your food to those two out there.”</p><p>Arms thumping down on the desk, Emma wraps them around the container and pulls it closer. “You’ll have to pry my mac and cheese from my cold dead hands, lady,” she growls playfully.</p><p>Smiling sweetly, Regina drawls, “That can be arranged.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was also informed that parents give their kids ginger ale, not ginger beer for an upset stomach. My mother, however, tells me that those parents didn’t love their kids enough because the added alcohol makes you feel even better, and since it always worked on me, I’m inclined to believe her, therefore Emma and Regina are like my mother and not those lame-o normie parents.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is a bit short because I really wanted to update, but I'm sick and it required way too much concentration to do so.</p><p>I'm weird. Summer sucks.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It takes about five minutes of Henry sitting there in her office before Emma caves to her curiosity. “So, how long has your mother and grandmother been having dinner together?”</p><p>Henry looks up and squints at her. “Once every two weeks or so,” he answers slowly. He watches her for a moment, then goes back to his homework as he explains, “Mom stopped going when Robin appeared. Grandma pouted about it, a lot.”</p><p>Emma nods. That sounds like her mother. Any time Snow doesn’t get her way, you’re exposed to the guilt trip of a lifetime, even if you weren’t the reason she didn’t get her way. “When did the dinners start?”</p><p>Sighing, Henry sets his tablet down on her desk. “Not long after we came back from Neverland,” he says, now staring at her, like he’s waiting for something more.</p><p>Emma doesn’t disappoint. “Any idea what they talk about?”</p><p>He reaches across her desk for the last of her bear claw. Emma pretends not to care, even though Regina had brought it to her just before he arrived and she does, in fact, care. “Grandma complains about grandpa, and Mom complains about you…” He says, eying her as he sits back down and tears through the pastry like an unappreciative barbarian. “And me… and Robin now, probably.”</p><p>As revenge, Emma decides silently that she’s going to force him to eat more vegetables; broccoli, specifically. “How do you know all of this?”</p><p>“Mom couldn’t get a hold of you a few times,” he replies, “so she took me along.”</p><p>“Oh.” It’s hard to feel bad for something she didn’t even know about until now, but somehow Emma still manages it. She hates the thought that she let Regina down, even unknowingly.</p><p>“Mom didn’t mind,” Henry adds between sucking on his fingers. Emma shakes her head and opens her desk drawer, pulling out a napkin that she then throws at him. He smirks and wipes his hands. “She said you were always busy helping other people.”</p><p>Emma grimaces. Most likely, she’d been busy trying to calm Killian down from another tantrum, for which she’d gladly have dropped him to spend time with her son. “Alright, enough gossip,” she says as she pulls on her jacket and stands. “I’m hungry and some goblin stole the only food I had.”</p><p>“Ha,” he deadpans. Shoving his tablet into his backpack, he shrugs it onto a shoulder and asks, “What are we getting?”</p><p>“Broccoli.”</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>“Maybe asparagus too,” she adds, striding from the office.</p><p>He huffs. “I’m going on a hunger strike.”</p><p>“Good,” she counters. “More food for me.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p>They get Chinese because; noodles, and also because Emma noticed the vegetable stir fry, broccoli included. She made Henry order it and wouldn’t let him have his sweet and sour pork until he ate it.</p><p>He complained a lot less than she’d hoped he would.</p><p>The texts begin while they’re recovering on her couch. It’s little things at first, and sporadic; Regina asking her what she’s doing; lounging in front of the tv, feeling like a balloon. If she’s having fun; not currently. If Henry had finished his homework; he hadn’t, but when Emma reminded him, he groaned at her and still hasn’t moved an hour later.</p><p>The next text is heart warming, among other things.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Miss you.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>That’s it. Entirely unprompted, and vaguely nonsensical considering they’d actually spent a lot of time together today. Emma doesn’t care. She texts back the sentiment and includes a lot of unnecessary smilies, which gets her an eye rolling smiley in return.</p><p>“You’re talking to Mom.”</p><p>Head swivelling along the couch, Emma narrows her eyes. “Mind your business.”</p><p>Henry makes a face and leans in. “She’s my Mom.”</p><p>“No one cares.”</p><p>He gently headbutts her and says, “You’re grinning like a dork.”</p><p>“You’d know,” she counters, still grinning. “Dork.”</p><p>He grins, like a dork as expected. “You like her.”</p><p>She shrugs. It’s true and since she’d made the decision to be honest, she decides to extend that honesty to their son. “So?”</p><p>His grin widens. “She likes you too.”</p><p>Her heart skips.</p><p>“Okay,” she replies, pulling away. She kisses his forehead before slumping back against the couch and looking back down at her phone. “But let her tell me, in her own time.”</p><p>“Okay,” he concedes before pushing himself off the couch. “Where’d I put my-” She points to his backpack by the table. “Right. When I’m done, can we have ice cream?”</p><p>“If I can move by then,” she replies, distracted by the next text.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>Your mother keeps ordering me wine.</b>
</p><p>
  <em> She wants to get you drunk and take advantage. </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Don’t be gross.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Emma laughs out loud, ignoring the eyes on her as she texts back.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Lol I meant you’re a chatty drunk ;) </em>
</p><p>
  <b>I am not.</b>
</p><p>
  <em> You have a tattoo on your upper thigh. </em>
</p><p>
  <b>I have more than one.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Emma quietly sucks in a breath, her mind wandering. She hasn’t seen a tattoo, even the one she knows about. She only knows because, as she’d said; Regina is a chatty drunk. </p><p>Biting her lip and resisting the urge to ask <em> where</em>, she replies.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> See. It’s already starting. Better run before it’s too late. </em>
</p><p>
  <b>Shut up.</b>
</p><p>
  <em> I’ll just go cut my fingers off. </em>
</p><p>
  <b>You do that.</b>
</p><p> </p><p>With another laugh, she puts her phone down and finally gets up. “How much longer, nerd?” Henry grunts. She rolls her eyes and tries again. “Caveman want ice cream?”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>Head shaking, she walks into the kitchen and grabs herself a beer and a spoon before retrieving the tub of mint chocolate from the freezer. Returning to the den, she sits the ice cream and spoon in front of him, and throws herself back on the couch. </p><p>“Your phone beeped,” he mumbles, flicking the lid off of the tub.</p><p>“What was it?” She asks, reaching for the remote and flipping on the TV.</p><p>He looks up, brow furrowed. “How should I know?” She raises a brow and he sighs. “I didn’t look at the message, but it’s from Mom.”</p><p>She tilts her head. In the five years she’s known him, he’s never, not once, resisted the desire to snoop.  “Why not?”</p><p>He screws up his face. “You might be flirting, I don’t need that trauma in my life.”</p><p>“Rude.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p>Hours later, the ice cream is gone, she’s three beers shorter and the texts have progressively gotten less illegible, the last having been a seemingly complicated code of emoticons that she is most definitely not drunk enough to understand. The credits to a movie she has no memory of watching plays on screen, and... someone is knocking on her door.</p><p>Groaning, Emma pushes Henry’s feet out of her lap and rises, stumbling her way through semi-darkness to the front door. Two silhouettes. She sighs and yanks the door open. “Wh- Mom?”</p><p>“Hi sweetie.” Snow smiles, guiding an adorably sleepy looking Queen inside as Emma steps back to let them in. “She insisted I bring her here,” she explains. “I don’t know how much experience you have with her when she’s drunk, but she’s incredibly hard to resist.”</p><p>She’s incredibly hard to resist while <em> not </em> drunk, but Emma keeps the thought to herself and accepts the slim arm her mother pulls over her shoulder. She slips her arm around Regina’s waist, keeping her upright. “You drove her car?”</p><p>Snow sighs. “Unfortunately.”</p><p>Stiffening as a cool nose presses into her neck, Emma takes a moment to calm her racing heart before she replies, “Well, that’s your nightmare to deal with.” She gestures to the den. “Wanna come i…”</p><p>Snow begins shaking her head almost immediately. “Your father has been texting me constantly for the past hour,” she says, a fond smile on her face. She darts in and kisses Regina on the cheek, receiving a grumble for her efforts before she does the same to Emma. “See you later. Let her know to call me in the morning and I’ll bring her car back.”</p><p>Emma wrinkles her nose. “I’m not getting in the middle of that mess, send her a text.”</p><p>Shaking her head, Snow teases, “Courage of a lion.”</p><p>“She’s the lion,” Emma counters. “I’m the gazelle. Fight your own battles, lady.”</p><p>“Mm cold.” As if to prove her point, Regina shivers and Emma wraps her arm more tightly around her.</p><p>“You heard her,” she says to her mother. “Get out.”</p><p>“You two are so cute.”</p><p>“Out,” she repeats, pointing to the door. “Don’t think I won’t side with her in the morning when she decides to murder you.”</p><p>“She’s the one who got drunk,” Snow reminds her.</p><p>“With your encouragement.”</p><p>The look of outrage that overcomes her face would generally be enough to make Emma laugh, but mindful of the woman attempting to burrow as deeply into her neck as possible, Emma resists and playfully glares at her mother.</p><p>“Fine,” Snow says, raising her hands as she backs out the door. “I’m going.” She grins. “Love you.”</p><p>“Yes, yes, love you,” Emma says and closes the door with a swift wave of her hand.</p><p>She remains in the foyer, listening to her mother’s laughter- enjoying it, though not nearly as much as she enjoys the body pressed against her side, After a minute or two more, she leads Regina to the den, but when she tries to lower her onto the couch with their son, Regina clings to her.</p><p>“Bed.”</p><p>“None of the guest rooms are set up,” Emma whispers. Aside from Henry’s room, hers is the only one with a bed. She’s not against sharing, of course. They’ve done it a couple of times before, but Regina is generally sober and knows what’s going on beforehand.</p><p>Regina lifts her head just enough to look Emma in the eye. “I know,” she says, smiling when Emma simply blinks at her in response. She adds, “I’m too tired to pretend I’m not perfectly happy to share a bed with you.”</p><p>Lids fluttering closed briefly, Emma inhales deeply in the hope it might alleviate her heart’s desire to explode before she opens her eyes and turns them, leading Regina up the stairs to her bedroom.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Disgusting fluff, brought to you by; me, a real life gay lord.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Emma is a light sleeper. The slightest movement can awaken her, so when she feels the bed shift, she’s not surprised when she snaps awake. It’s still dark, the air in her bedroom cool from the open window, but smelling faintly of lavender and reminding her that it’s simply Regina moving about. She closes her eyes again, drifting as she listens to the soft, uncomfortable groan before feeling the slight press of a warm body against her arm, the brush of a finger and warm, soft lips against her cheek.</p>
<p>The bed shifts once more when Regina leaves it and Emma continues to listen as the butterflies swarm her stomach. She hears the shuffling, the quiet muttering and an even quieter curse, and smiles. The door to her bedroom opens, then closes, and the room settles into silence.</p>
<p>She waits for sleep to return but the minutes pass slowly and the boredom of doing nothing gets to her first. She gets up and goes to the bathroom before returning to her room where she pulls on a robe and makes her way downstairs, led by a faint light to the kitchen.</p>
<p>There, in the flickering light of a candle she knows she doesn’t own, is Regina, holding a carton of noodles Emma also knows is most certainly hers, with a comical expression on her face at having been caught. </p>
<p>Emma grins, amused. “Hungry?”</p>
<p>Suddenly looking like a grumpy, hungover puppy, Regina grumbles, “Shut up.”</p>
<p>It’s the most adorable fucking thing and it makes Emma feel all gooey inside.</p>
<p>Shutting up, she crosses to the fridge and retrieves a bottle of water, setting it on the counter in front of Regina. She then, quietly, sifts through the kitchen cabinets until she finds her prescription of naprosyn and sets that on the counter too. Regina mumbles something that sounds like a thank you, which Emma deems good enough as she sets about making them both a cup of tea. </p>
<p>Once it’s done and she’s handed Regina hers, she sits at the counter beside her and simply enjoys the peace and quiet.</p>
<p>The peace lasts, but the quiet doesn’t.</p>
<p>“This house is too big.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she replies. </p>
<p>It had been one of those <em> in the moment </em> purchases. She’d needed a place to stay before her parents drove her insane, and it gave her an excuse not to have to set foot on Hook’s stupid ship for them to spend time together. In truth, she’d have been a lot happier moving in with Regina and their son, but at the time, they weren’t quite where they are now in terms of their friendship. It’d only been about a week after Neverland, and a few days before the whole Peter Pan and being sent off to New York bullshit when she bought the house.</p>
<p>Still grumbling somewhat, Regina says, “Don’t tell me you were planning on starting a family with that cretin.”</p>
<p>Quickly swallowing the sip of tea she’d just taken before she chokes on it, Emma grimaces. Even if she <em> didn’t </em> have standards, she’d have been offended. “I already have a family,” she replies, turning and glaring at the idiot woman.</p>
<p>Unfazed, Regina raises a brow. “Oh?” She says, “Planned to give me a football team’s worth of children, were you?”</p>
<p>
  <em> Don’t say yes. </em>
</p>
<p>It’s a thought that surprises Emma. She had no intention of saying yes, but once she’s taken a moment to think about it, the actual answer isn’t really a surprise at all.</p>
<p>“If that’s what you want.”</p>
<p>That increasingly familiar sound gets strangled in Regina’s throat again.</p>
<p>Emma just manages not to smirk and sips her tea. She watches Regina from the corner of her eye and sees the wide range of expressions that contort her gorgeous face; from disbelief to confusion, curiosity and more disbelief. Eventually, it settles on something soft, an affection Emma has gradually grown accustomed to coming from the mother of her son. It’s an expression that never fails to fill her with warmth, along with a small slice of hope.</p>
<p>“I don’t think I could handle a football team.”</p>
<p>Emma looks at her then, rarely certain about anything, but entirely confident of this, “You could,” she says. “Though you’d have to adopt some of them because there is no way I’m giving birth that many times.”</p>
<p>Regina laughs and leans over, nudging her with a shoulder, and smiling when Emma nudges her back. “I really have missed you.”</p>
<p>Emma stays leaned in and lowers her head to Regina’s shoulder. “I missed you,” she says, “not just this, but… in New York. We both did.”</p>
<p>“We never did talk about that.”</p>
<p>She hums. “We’ve been… preoccupied.”</p>
<p>“So?” Regina drawls. “How were the memories? I didn’t have a lot of control over what I shared, but-”</p>
<p>“They were perfect,” Emma interrupts, frowning as she raises her head. “I should have thanked you for them the second we got back.”</p>
<p>Regina shakes her head. “As you said, we were both preoccupied.”</p>
<p>“Still… thank you, not just for the stuff with Henry, but I actually learned to cook.” Emma chuckles, recalling a few instances from New York that, looking back, had very clear signs of Regina’s influence. “I think you also gave me a little bit of your fire; I didn’t take shit from anyone.”</p>
<p>“I’d say that was all you, but considering our past, you were a little too tolerant of mine.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry,” she assures, “the desire to kick your ass was always there.”</p>
<p>Regina snorts. “A shame you missed your chance.”</p>
<p>“That’s a mighty high opinion you have of yourself there, Madam Mayor.”</p>
<p>“A well-deserved one, Sheriff Swan.” She lowers her voice to an almost growl. “And you’d do well to remember that.”</p>
<p>A shiver rushes down Emma’s spine, sending goose bumps along her arms and chest. She’s suddenly glad to be wearing her robe as certain parts of her body perk up. Laughing softly, she picks up her tea and drains the last of it before setting it back down. “I’ll take that under advisement,” she says as she rises, bending down to press a kiss to Regina’s temple before she straightens. “For now, I’m going back to bed.”</p>
<p> </p>
<hr/>
<p>When she wakes a second time, it’s a few hours later. The sun has risen and the air is no longer cool, but it still smells faintly of Regina. Emma smiles and, entirely against her nature, immediately rolls out of bed. She takes a quick shower and doesn’t spend any time at all deciding what to wear because when has a pair of jeans and a tank top never not been enough?</p>
<p>She doesn’t expect anything when she goes downstairs. It’s almost 10, which means that even on a Saturday, Regina has likely left and taken their son with her.</p>
<p>Walking into the kitchen for something quick to eat for breakfast is a surprise, to say the least, and a mixed one at that. Regina is here, but so is Snow. She’s about to walk right back out, maybe go to the diner for something, when Regina stops her.</p>
<p>“Emma,” she says like she <em> knows </em> exactly what was about to happen. “Your breakfast is in the microwave.”</p>
<p>Her shoulders slump. She maybe could have gotten away with ignoring the call of her name and escaping, but there’s no way she won’t hear about it if she leaves knowing Regina had cooked for her again. Emma whines softly and turns back around, shooting Regina a half-hearted glare because while she does love her mother, she has a rule about being around Snow before she’s significantly caffeinated.</p>
<p>She can’t help that morning-her finds her mother’s chipper voice to be one of the most annoying sounds in existence.</p>
<p>“Morning, sweetie,” Snow says. Emma grunts in reply as she walks over to the microwave. “Sleep well?” She waves her hand dismissively, pulling open the utensil drawer. Snow sighs. “Is she like this with you in the morning?”</p>
<p>“Not usually,” Regina drawls, the amusement in her tone subtle, but there. “Sometimes I get a thank you.”</p>
<p>Feeling like somewhat of an ass, Emma sets the fork back on her plate and walks around the counter. She puts the plate down and falls into the chair beside Regina, then leans in and kisses the corner of her mouth in thanks.</p>
<p>Said corner twitches. “I stand corrected,” she says, pressing the tip of her finger to the underside of the plate.</p>
<p>Steam begins to rise from it and Emma sighs happily as the scent of bacon intensifies, filling her nose with the heavenly smell as she digs into the food and, temporarily, ignores her guests.</p>
<p>She’s about halfway through when she feels a set of eyes on her and looks up. She isn’t particularly shocked to find her mother staring at her while Regina feigns interest in her phone. She hates being stared at while she eats.</p>
<p>“What?”</p>
<p>Snow smiles, entirely oblivious. “I asked if you’d have lunch with me tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“Ask me tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Her brow furrows. “What if you make plans before then?”</p>
<p>Emma shrugs. “Then I make plans before then.”</p>
<p>“Why can’t you make them now, with me?”</p>
<p>Sighing, Emma stabs her fork into the fluffiest, most perfect eggs she has ever had the pleasure of being inside her mouth, and shoves them right in to stop her first response from leaving her head. Hearing her mother whine, especially first thing in the morning, is very high up on her reasons for not having wanted to live with her anymore.</p>
<p>As she considers a second, more appropriate response, she looks at Regina who, after a few seconds, glances up from her phone and slowly raises an eyebrow. Her lips quirk a moment later and she sets her phone down. “Snow,” she says, drawing her attention from Emma. “Why don’t you and <em>I</em> have lunch tomorrow?”</p>
<p>“I… um.” Snow glances between them. Emma continues to look at Regina, relieved but also wary. “I guess that would-”<br/>“Wonderful,” Regina interjects, a slow, mischievous smile dancing on her lips. “Emma,” she drawls playfully. “I’d like to cook you lunch tomorrow.”</p>
<p>It’s unfair. Anyone who knows her knows she would never turn down spending time with Regina, and she sure as hell wouldn’t turn down eating food cooked <em> by </em> Regina. She should have gone ahead and just told her mother she didn’t want to make plans with her because she was annoying.</p>
<p>“Fine,” Emma mutters, glaring as she shoves another forkful of eggs into her mouth..</p>
<p>Regina smiles serenely back at her.</p>
<p>Cutting through what is likely some real awkward tension for her mother, Snow clears her throat and says, “I think I’m going to leave now.”</p>
<p>It’s a brilliant idea, so brilliant Emma would have said so out loud, had she not just stuffed more food into her mouth.</p>
<p>“I’ll walk you out,” Regina says as she rises from her chair and rounds the counter.</p>
<p>She swats Emma as she passes by, and again when she returns a few minutes later.</p>
<p>“You can’t be upset with her for something she isn’t aware of.”</p>
<p>“I just proved I can,” Emma argues, “so... wrong.”</p>
<p>Regina rolls her eyes as she turns to the coffeemaker. She fiddles with it for a bit before she turns again and leans back against the counter. “You could simply tell her.”</p>
<p>“Oh yeah, and what would I say?” Emma asks. “Hey Mom, I find your voice about as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard in the mornings, so could you kindly shut the hell up?”</p>
<p>Regina smirks. “If you like.”</p>
<p>“What was she even doing here this early?”</p>
<p>“She brought me my car.”</p>
<p>Right. Emma vaguely remembers the conversation she had last night about that. “And you didn’t kill her?”</p>
<p>“I considered it.” The coffeemaker beeps and Regina pours them both a cup before returning to the counter. Taking her seat, she slides one across to Emma and continues, “Then I thought about all the people that would object and decided I couldn’t be bothered.”</p>
<p>Emma sighs a dramatically forlorn sounding sigh. “And you call me lazy.”</p>
<p>“You are.”</p>
<p>She pouts. “Go home.”</p>
<p>“Okay.”</p>
<p>Emma panics because she didn’t mean it, but Regina is standing and picking up her purse like she actually intends to leave. Emma grabs her hand when she tries to walk passed her. “Joke.”</p>
<p>“Really?” The ever ascending brow, ascends once more. “I hear those are supposed to be funny.”</p>
<p>“Ha,” Emma deadpans. “I’d say you’re so hilarious you <em> should </em> quit your day job, but then everyone would get mad and probably try to kill me for giving the only person in town competent enough to be the Mayor ideas.”</p>
<p>“See.” Regina pats her head condescendingly. “You’re much better at kissing ass than telling jokes.”</p>
<p>“Uh huh.” Swatting her hand away, Emma grumbles, “Sit down and finish your coffee.”</p>
<p>“Yes dear.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Quick update because it's been a while, this is all I've got, and it should have been a part of the previous chapter.</p>
<p>Also have a shipname for Zelena and Red. I don't care if one already exists, The Green-Eyed Monster is better than whatever it might be.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time their lunch comes around, Emma’s mood has improved considerably. She’s in Regina’s kitchen when Snow walks in with Neal cradled in her arms. Emma takes him from her immediately, despite her mother’s protests. It had taken about a week after he was born to get over feeling like she was being replaced, and in the face of her brother’s adorableness, she hadn’t stood a chance.</p>
<p>She absconds with him to the den, passing Regina along the way, who stops them to tap Neal on the nose and kiss his cheek. He smiles one of those derpy baby smiles, and Emma’s grin at the sight widens even further when Regina does the exact same to her, including the nose tap.</p>
<p>“The drawer in the bottom of the DVD cabinet is full of toys for him,” she says, her fingers brushing against Emma’s hip before she disappears into the kitchen.</p>
<p>In the den, Emma grabs the throw from the back of the couch and lays it out on the floor. She lays Neal down on top of it, then ransacks the drawer for the softest, most brightest toys she can find.</p>
<p>When Regina and Snow finally wander in, both Emma and Neal are on the floor surrounded by an assortment of stuffed animals. While Neal drools all over a bright yellow duck, Emma sits crossed-legged in front of him, re-enacting Romeo and Juliet with a toy Batman and Superman.</p>
<p>“Lois Lane would kill him,” Regina comments, sounding amused as she takes a seat on the couch.</p>
<p>“That’s why their love is so tragic,” Emma replies, feigning exasperation with a sigh and roll of her eyes. “Obviously.”</p>
<p>Regina raises a brow. “You realize he has no idea what you’re saying, yes?”</p>
<p>Emma screws up her face. “Of course I know that,” she says, “I wouldn’t be acting out this tripe if he could understand me.”</p>
<p>Snow, sounding confused, asks, “What’s wrong with Romeo and Juliet?”</p>
<p>Emma and Regina share a look before they both respond, “What’s right with Romeo and Juliet?”</p>
<p>Snow shakes her head. “Well, I think it’s romantic.”</p>
<p>“You would,” Regina drawls.</p>
<p>“Seriously,” Emma adds. “How dumb do you have to be to think poison was the answer for them to be together? They could’ve run away together, or waited until they were older and could tell their families to eat a- uh, mind their own business, but no, they decided to <em> die </em>. Idiots.”</p>
<p>Hearing a snort, she looks up and sees Regina trying not to laugh. Emma winks. “So glad our teenager isn’t a moron.”</p>
<p>Regina nods her head in agreement as she stands back up. “Lunch should almost be done,” she says, gesturing to the mess Emma has made. “You can leave all of that.”</p>
<p>“Nah.” Emma rises before picking Neal up and handing him to her mother. “It’ll only take a minute.”</p>
<p>“Suit yourself.” Humming, Regina snatches Neal from Snow’s arms and walks out of the room, ignoring Snow’s protests.</p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Emma wanders into the kitchen about two minutes later, to the sight of Regina flitting about with Neal asleep against her chest. Her own chest warms at the sight and she meets her mother’s gaze, sharing a soft smile with her. Regina is great with kids and it’s why, on occasion, Emma has considered having another one. Even though they’re not together, she knows that any children she might have in the future, she wants Regina to be a part of their life, in whatever capacity Regina wants to be there.</p>
<p>Speaking of children…</p>
<p>Dropping onto the stool beside her mother, Emma nudges her. “Hey Mom?”</p>
<p>Snow blinks, then turns her head. “Hmm?”</p>
<p>“Are you and Dad going to uh…” Emma trails off, desperately wishing she could scrub the image that’d just come to mind from her brain. She shudders. “Have more?”</p>
<p>“More?”</p>
<p>She bobs her head. “Yeah, you know; kids.”</p>
<p>“Oh.” Something resembling relief crosses her mother’s expression and Emma wonders for the split-second it takes her brain to scream at her to stop. “We’d like to, yes.”</p>
<p>Shushing her brain, Emma says, “Right, so… I’ve been thinking.”</p>
<p>Regina turns then, setting a plate down in front of each of them. “Uh oh,” she teases.</p>
<p>Emma pouts. “Hush your face.”</p>
<p>Regina chuckles as she retrieves her own plate and Snow places a hand on Emma’s arm. “What have you been thinking, sweetie?”</p>
<p>Poking her tongue out at Regina and receiving another chuckle, satisfied, Emma turns her attention back to her mother. “Well, you know my house is gigantic, right?”</p>
<p>Snow smiles. “Yes, I assumed you were planning-”</p>
<p>“I wasn’t,” Emma interrupts. She <em> really </em> doesn’t want to know what her mother had assumed. It would likely be along the same lines as what Regina mentioned yesterday morning, and thinking about having kids with Hook once had been disturbing enough.</p>
<p>“Oh.”</p>
<p>“It was just somewhere to sleep uninterrupted,” she reasons, waving a hand dismissively. It’s not the whole truth, but the other reasons she’s happy to keep to herself. “Anyway, I was wondering if maybe you and Dad might want it.”</p>
<p>“Want… your house?”</p>
<p>“Yeah?”</p>
<p>“You want us to live with you?”</p>
<p>She laughs and is about to respond with a <em> God no </em> when Regina bumps her knee with her own, apparently having read her thoughts. Emma bumps her back, grateful, and clears her throat. “No, I mean, it’s too big for me and I don’t really think I’m going to, uh, settle down? Any time soon?”</p>
<p>“But where will you live?”</p>
<p>“With me.”</p>
<p>Both of their gazes snap to Regina, both of them sounding shocked- one a little more than the other -when they both blurt out, “What?”</p>
<p>“What?” She repeats, gazing at Emma.</p>
<p>Emma tries real hard not to grin like a giddy, moronic dork. “You want me to move in… here… with you?”</p>
<p>“And why not? I have the room, Henry wouldn’t have to split his time between us any more, and I can stop getting one of us drunk to use as an excuse for us to have a sleepover.”</p>
<p>“Wow, you just came right out and admitted it, in front of me… and my mother.” Regina shrugs and Emma shakes her head, smiling as she teases, “Who are you and what have you done with my favourite Queen?”</p>
<p>“Hey!”</p>
<p>“What?” She asks, feigning innocence as she smiles sweetly at her mother. “You’re my favourite Disney Pr- wait, no, that’s Jasmine.”</p>
<p>“This is an outrage,” Snow complains, scoffing. “I’m telling your father.”</p>
<p>“That’s okay,” Emma says, “Regina will protect me.”</p>
<p>Dark eyes blink slowly. “I will?”</p>
<p>“I am the mother of your son, and your…” Emma pauses, considering. She’s fairly confident her son and her brother come before her. She definitely comes before Zelena. She might be wrong about her brother, but she takes the chance anyway and says, “Third favourite person.”</p>
<p>Regina looks like she wants to argue, but when she opens her mouth, she’s looking at Snow when she says, “She has a point.”</p>
<p>Snow sighs. “This is the last time I bring Neal to visit either of you.”</p>
<p>Emma smirks, knowing a bluff from her mother when she hears one. “Good luck getting Red away from Zelena to babysit.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Her parents resist accepting the house at first. They insist Emma might need it in the future and because she doesn’t want to leave it empty, it delays her moving into 108. Regina is neither impressed, nor patient, so when Emma complains for the third day in a row, Regina waves her hand through the air not once, but twice. </p><p>The first wave transports everything Emma needs from her house to Regina’s. Regina informs her of this in a snooty, no nonsense tone when she asks. The second wave transports her parents, and Neal, into her kitchen where she’d been having breakfast with Regina for what appears to be the last time in said kitchen. </p><p>Regina informs them that Emma has finished moving, and hands them the keys to the house, which is probably the most shocking thing out of all that happens because Emma has been looking for those keys for going on a week now without luck.</p><p>“Where’d you find those?”</p><p>Regina simply stares at her, brow raised, looking haughty but undeniably gorgeous, as always.</p><p>Emma let’s it go.</p><p>“Honey, are you sure about this?” Her father questions. “It’s a big decision.”</p><p>It’s really not.</p><p>Had it been an option before now, she’d have moved in with Regina years ago.</p><p>“Dad, the house is too big,” she reasons. “I don’t need all this space. Even if I had three kids and a dog, it would still be too much. Living with Regina and our son makes more sense, and it will make all of our lives a hell of a lot easier.”</p><p>Regina snorts and Emma points at her, growling playfully. “Don’t start with me, woman.”</p><p>“I said nothing,” she retorts, smirking.</p><p>Emma pouts because she didn’t <em> need </em> to say anything, and the smirk grows.</p><p>“Have either of you spoken to Henry about this?” Snow asks suddenly.</p><p>Emma frowns. Given their discussions lately, with Henry seemingly advocating for the two of them to get together, she doesn’t think he’ll have a problem with it, but it honestly hadn’t occurred to her.</p><p>Looking at Regina, she realizes it hadn’t occurred to her either, though Regina recovers from the realization surprisingly well for someone who spoils their son rotten and has always put his wants and needs above her own, or anyone else's. “I have not,” she admits.</p><p>Snow looks about as surprised as Emma feels. “Don’t you think you should?” She asks.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“But-”</p><p>Regina interrupts smoothly. “While I will, of course, always take his opinion and feelings into consideration, he is a child and the decision of who lives in my house is ultimately mine to make.” When Snow opens her mouth in what Emma assumes in another protest, Regina adds, “Besides which, there is no chance that there exists a single timeline or universe in which our son, nor I, would <em> not </em> want his mother living with him.”</p><p>The inclusion of herself makes Emma grin, though as much as she’d like to tease Regina for it, she knows not to do it in front of everyone. She looks at her parents. “See? We know what we’re doing. Enjoy the house, I’ll be out in… twenty min-”</p><p>“An hour,” Regina interjects. “I didn’t touch your room.”</p><p>Emma frowns, lips parting to ask why not when Regina gives her a very specific look, the teasing kind that tells her she does <em> not </em> want whatever Regina is thinking to be mentioned in front of her parents. “Right, uh, an hour,” she repeats, her face feeling like it’s on fire because it could only be one thing, and she can’t believe Regina has probably seen something she shouldn’t have. “Maybe two- come back at lunch time.”</p><p>“Two?” Regina repeats, brow rising.</p><p>The burning intensifies. Her house keys aren’t the only things Emma has lost since moving in. “Shut up.”</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>“The bed?”</p><p>Emma shrugs as she walks out of the closet with a bag full of clothes and… other things. “I prefer yours,” she replies, “but the guest one will do.”</p><p>“Hmm.” Regina gestures to the bag and Emma drops it before it disappears from sight. Regina says, “I meant, what are we going to do with this one? I highly doubt your parents will want it after the drunken sailor has-”</p><p>“Ugh, no.” Shaking her head to dispel the thoughts that pop into her brain, Emma frantically flaps her hand as if it’ll be enough to vanquish them for the rest of forever. “I don't know, burn it for all I care.”</p><p>“Alright.”</p><p>There’s a whoosh sound and an intense heat on her back, and she quickly spins, her eyes widening. “Oh my god.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I didn’t think...” Actually, no. Regina setting her bed on fire is not even in the same league as other things she’s done. Emma didn’t think it, but she probably should have. She douses the flames with a flick of the wrist and shakes her head. “Nothing.”</p><p>That unfairly kissable looking mouth quirks. “Were you trying to make a joke again?”</p><p>“Look here, lady,” she says, stepping in close. “I am fucking hilarious. Don’t make me kick your ass.”</p><p>Regina leans in. “My <em> making </em> you is the only way you <em> could</em>,” she counters, her voice a perfect combination of purr and amusement.</p><p>Emma huffs and steps back. It’s probably true, but Regina didn’t have to go <em> say </em> it like that, or get so <em> close </em>. “Is this why you want me to move in?” She asks, the pout not entirely feigned since she’s now sort of turned on and can’t do a thing about it. “So you have someone to pick on?”</p><p>“Emma.” Suddenly looking serious, Regina places her hands on Emma’s shoulders and looks her in the eye. “I hardly need to tolerate you under the same roof to do that.”</p><p>“You’re so mean.”</p><p>She grins. “You’ve known this how long?”</p><p>Pulling away with a roll of her eyes, Emma mumbles <em> not nearly long enough </em> as she walks out of her former bedroom, thoughts- stupid, sexy thoughts running through her head.</p><p>Regina follows her. “What was that?”</p><p>“None of your business.”</p><p>She makes that disappointed clicking sound that mothers tend to when their children disappoint them. “This is not a good start to our living together, Miss Swan.”</p><p>“Keep it up and I’ll go rent a room at Grannys,” Emma grumbles while trying to stop herself from smiling.</p><p>“You’ll do no such thing.”</p><p>She pauses on her way downstairs. She hadn’t been serious, of course, but Regina no longer sounds like she’s playing. When Emma looks, there’s a glare that could melt a person’s face off waiting for her, so she chuckles and says, “You’re so bossy.”</p><p>Regina blinks slowly, then sniffs. “And don’t you forget it,” she replies, her nose in the air as she walks passed Emma and down the stairs.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Henry comes home for lunch. When they tell him Emma has moved in, it comes as no surprise to either of them when all he says is, “That’s nice.” He then shovels the food Regina made for him into his gaping maw, kisses her on the cheek with a mumbled thanks, and heads back to school.</p><p>“I wish all my conversations were that simple,” Emma comments when she hears the front door close.</p><p>Regina turns from the sink, hands covered in suds as she reaches for a tea towel. “I wish all your conversations were that simple too,” she says with a smirk.</p><p>Emma sighs. “That’s it, as soon as I’ve finished-” Looking down at her plate, she contemplates her food. It’s chicken, but what it is <em> exactly </em>, she didn’t ask. Like their son, she’s kinda just been shoving it into her mouth and enjoying it thoroughly. “-whatever the hell this is, I’m going to Grannys.”</p><p>Regina gives her the kind of look the comment deserves, scoffs, and throws the now wet tea towel at her head. </p><p>It slides off onto the floor. “This is domestic abuse.”</p><p>Dark eyes narrow and she tries not to grin when Regina growls, “I’ll show you domestic abuse.”</p><p>Emma snorts. “Promises, promises.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I think I'm going back to shorter chapters.<br/>I'm going to pretend to be okay with it.<br/>Also, don't read the end note until you finish the chapter. It's a spoiler.<br/>It's also childish because it's 5am and I'm in a weird mood, as so happens when I'm tired.<br/>I'm making it sound way more important than it is.<br/>It's really not.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They have their first fight on the very first night of cohabitation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It goes a little something like this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina switches the beds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma notices.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She walks into Regina’s room to tell her to change them back, while Regina is getting dressed; a fact to which she isn’t privy to because she’s looking at her phone when she does it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re insane.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina hmm’s. “I gave it at least a week before one of us walked in on the other one naked,” she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which, coincidentally, is when Emma realizes that Regina is, in fact, naked, says </span>
  <em>
    <span>oh shit</span>
  </em>
  <span>, and walks back out of the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, as it turns out, what Emma thinks is going to be a fight isn’t a fight at all, and now she’s hiding in the bathroom because she’s fairly confident that if she turns any redder, she’s going to become a tomato.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you doing in there?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d left the door ajar like an idiot, so of course Henry finds her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Contemplating life,” she replies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most people do that in the shower,” he says, “or when they’re trying to sleep.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Feeling the heat in her cheeks abate, along with the ache that was significantly lower, she takes a deep breath, and releases. “Your advice is noted and appreciated.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m here to help… Are you going to be long? I need to pee.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sighing, she takes another breath, then stands up from the edge of the bath and walks to the door, pulling it open. “All yours.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You saw something you shouldn’t have, huh?” She stares at him blankly, wondering how the hell- “Your face is pink.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She groans. “Go and be perceptive on the toilet and leave me alone.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He pats her arm as he slips passed into the bathroom. “She likes you,” he reminds her, closing the door before she can reply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She huffs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina may very well like her, but Emma highly doubts she liked being walked in on while she changed. Even if she </span>
  <em>
    <span>did</span>
  </em>
  <span> like that part, there’s certainly no chance in hell that she appreciated Emma’s reaction.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Or maybe it amused her.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma sighs again at the thought, then decides to face the music and goes back downstairs to the den where they’d planned to watch a movie before bed, after they’d all changed into something more comfortable.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Why it had taken Regina more than fifteen minutes when it had only taken Emma two, is beyond her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“There you are.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The heat returns to her cheeks almost instantly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Here I am,” she mumbles, crossing the room and taking a seat as far away from Regina as possible.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not quite as far as she’d like.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you suddenly have the plague?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks up then, and sees the amusement. She sees warmth too; a fondness Regina holds for her, but rarely shows. “Something like that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina pats the cushion beside her and, sighing once more, Emma gets up and walks over, taking a seat. It’s a little too close, but then Regina leans against her shoulder and Emma relaxes as much as she can with the image of what she assumes was the tail-end of a snake on a hip still burned into her retinas.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re cute when you’re embarrassed.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She blows out a breath, not quite huffing because if teasing is all she has to put up with, then she can probably deal with that. Hell, she </span>
  <em>
    <span>has</span>
  </em>
  <span> been dealing with it for as long as they’ve known each other. “Dunno what you’re on about,” she says, “I’m cute all the time.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A low, warm chuckle adds to the warmth simmering in her stomach and cheeks, but it’s the murmured agreement before Henry walks in that distracts her for almost the entirety of the movie that he turns on, as he plops down into the mountain of pillows and blankets on the floor.</span>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>They’re all tired when the movie ends. Henry’s already asleep on the floor. Emma offers to wake him, but Regina just shakes her head and rearranges the pillows and blankets around him before kissing his forehead and wishing him sweet dreams.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma wonders if this is a frequent occurrence, and if there are other things she hasn’t known about that she’ll be a part of now. Caught up in her thoughts, she doesn’t notice Regina leaving and by the time she does notice, Regina is already back with two glasses of wine to </span>
  <em>
    <span>help us sleep</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma doubts either of them need it, but she shrugs and accepts a glass anyway. Lingering embarrassment or no, she’s not stupid enough to turn down more time with the woman of her dreams.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This actually doesn’t suck,” she says after her first sip.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“High praise,” Regina murmurs, “from someone who drinks beer, of all things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma gasps in mock outrage. “What’s wrong with beer?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s disgusting,” Regina deadpans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma laughs quietly and murmurs, “You’re a terrible American.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s a good thing I’m not, then, hmm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Point,” she concedes, “but to be honest, I prefer vodka.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Now you tell me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not like you actually asked me if I wanted something to drink,” she counters, nudging Regina’s shoulder with her own. “Besides, I thought this was to </span>
  <em>
    <span>help us sleep</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina grumbles something under her breath.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma leans into her, grinning as she teases, “I’m sorry, what was that?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I said shut up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her grin widens. “Thought it might be something like that.” She lowers her voice to an almost whisper and asks, “Are you trying to get me drunk, Ms Mills?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Anything to make you more tolerable,” Regina murmurs, turning her head to look at her. “And to stop you from running off.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma pulls back a little and frowns. “Why would I run off?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Because...” Regina leans in and kisses her softly on the mouth. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are the cause of a confusing mess of emotions,” she says as she raises her hand and cups Emma’s cheek. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be constantly infuriated and infatuated at the same time?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma chuckles. That’s been her whole life for the past five years. “You’re kidding, right?” She asks, “Have you met you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina smirks. “Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, I have,” Emma replies, reaching for the hand as she turns her head and kisses Regina’s palm. “And it is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A thumb strokes beneath her eye. “Hmm?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“A pleasure,” she elaborates, fingers curling, tugging. She winds Regina’s arm around her neck and steals a kiss of her own before Regina can accuse her of being cheesy or sickly or, god forbid, </span>
  <em>
    <span>sweet</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The kiss is everything that a kiss should be, soft and wet, but not too wet. Regina’s tongue is scorching as it runs across Emma’s lower lip, and Emma easily cedes control in the hope of feeling it again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina does not disappoint.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mmm, you’re good at that,” Emma breathes when they break for air. “Not surprising. At all.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m good at everything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mhmm,” she agrees, “probably why you drive me so crazy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina grins as she purrs, “Oh I do, do I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uh huh.” Emma reaches up and touches her jaw, her cheek, her eyebrows, trailing her finger down the regal, often snooty, nose. “The number of times a day that I think about you is astronomical. I’m always late everywhere, I fall behind on paperwork, and there was that one time I ran into a lamp post while chasing Pongo-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina throws her head back and laughs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma flushes, remembering. “I forgot no one knew about that.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Still chuckling, Regina stands up and holds out her hand. Emma raises an eyebrow. “I want to hear more of these tragedies that thoughts of me have caused,” Regina says, “preferably without waking our son.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course you do,” Emma replies, grinning as she accepts the hand and Regina pulls her up. “Good to know my suffering amuses you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I hope you realized that long before tonight,” Regina says, pulling her out of the room. “Otherwise you’re as slow as I feared, and I’m afraid my attraction to you will have to go.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma rolls her eyes as she’s dragged upstairs. “Shut up.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Ew, kissing.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Emma tells Regina about the time she was in the forest looking for one of the lost boys who liked to run away from home any time he did something marginally wrong and thought he’d get in trouble. She’d started thinking about Regina about ten minutes into the search and hadn’t been looking where she was going. She ended up tripping over a tree root and falling flat on her face and, as if that weren’t humiliating enough, the lost boy had been nearby up in a tree. </p><p>He’d seen everything, and promptly started laughing his ass off.</p><p>He laughed so hard, he fell out of the tree.</p><p>Emma was too nice to let him hit the ground, even though she really wanted to.</p><p>Regina laughs, uproariously, and then kisses her, because apparently her pouting is one of Regina’s weaknesses.</p><p>It’s a good thing to know and something Emma takes full advantage of when she isn’t preoccupied reliving every single embarrassing moment she’s had in the past three years purely for Regina’s entertainment.</p><p>They make out, talk, and make out some more.</p><p>Emma discovers more of that second tattoo she’d caught earlier this night. It <em> is </em> a snake; a viper to be precise. The tail starts in the little dip of Regina’s right hip while the body winds around her lower back and up her left side, towards her ribs. Emma hadn’t meant to discover it, but her hand had been beneath Regina’s shirt for a while and the way Regina reacted any time she ran her fingers over it had made her curious. </p><p>It isn’t until she gets to the ribs that Regina puts a stop to her exploration, placing a hand on her wrist. “Lovely as your touch has been, I’d prefer to be fully awake when you find out where it ends.”</p><p>Grinning, Emma settles back at her side, caressing the body of the tattoo once more before she tugs Regina’s shirt back down over her stomach. “I think I have a pretty good idea,” she says, propping herself up on an elbow. “It’s definitely not something I’d imagine you’d have tattooed on your body .”</p><p>“I wasn’t quite as sensible or mature when I first arrived in this world.”</p><p>“Is that your way of saying you were nuttier than peanut butter?” Emma teases.</p><p>Regina chuckles lowly. “I would have said unstable, but yes. I was still in the mindset of the Evil Queen and riding high on my supposed victory over Snow White,” she explains, face flushing slightly when she adds, “I suppose it was also a… late teenage rebellion- a <em> fuck you, I won </em> to my mother and everyone else from the other world.”</p><p>Emma doesn’t know what to say. She doesn’t need to ask <em> why </em> the viper. She knows why and while she wouldn’t mind talking about it because being in love with the woman who killed her grandfather probably should involve a conversation of <em> some </em> kind, she doesn’t want to ruin the night. </p><p>Right now, the past is only relevant in that it shaped Regina into who she is. </p><p>Who she was can wait.</p><p>“Well,” Emma says after a little thought, tipping forward. She drapes an arm over Regina and kisses her beautifully chiseled jaw. “For what it’s worth, I think it’s hot.”</p><p>Plump lips quirk and Regina murmurs as she turns her head to bring their mouths together. “Good to know.”</p><p>The kiss is lazy, slow. They’re both tired, warm and comfortable. “We should probably put some pjs on, or something,” Emma says between kisses.</p><p>Regina rolls into her and wraps around her. “No,” she mumbles, “more kisses.”</p><p>Grinning against her mouth, Emma concedes and gives her more kisses; slow kisses, long kisses, wet kisses, hungry kisses. She nibbles, licks and sucks at every given opportunity, and relishes the sounds that vibrate against her mouth, and sometimes into the air because Regina’s lips aren’t the only thing Emma absolutely <em> must </em> put her mouth on.</p><p>In fact, she’s being rather attentive to Regina’s neck when Regina suddenly releases this slow, warm, rumbling laugh. It’s the kind of laugh that would have aroused Emma instantly, were she not already turned on beyond belief.</p><p>“We’ll never get to sleep at this rate,” Regina says, her fingers running through Emma’s hair, nails dragging pleasantly across her scalp. When Emma raises her head, still grinning, thoroughly pleased with herself, Regina adds, “I knew you’d be bad for me, but I wasn’t quite prepared for just how bad.”</p><p>“Oh, you’re definitely in for it,” Emma agrees, rolling on top and pinning her to the bed. “Now that I know you want it, I’m going to stop ignoring every single impulse I have to ravish you. Any and all of that free time you have is mine now.”</p><p>“I’m glad you’re willing to take it,” Regina murmurs, “because I fully intend on giving it all to you.” She smiles a wry little smile then and slides her fingers over Emma’s jaw, cupping it as she growls playfully, “You’ve wasted enough of it as is.”</p><p>Emma gasps, but then they’re kissing again and she can’t bring herself to stop simply to feign outrage at Regina’s sheer gall. It’s taken her less than two hours to become wholly addicted to kissing this gorgeous woman senseless.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>Emma stumbles into the diner the next morning. </p><p>“Hey Em.”</p><p>“Rubes. Coffee,” she says, slumping onto a stool and barely just folding her arms over the counter in time to catch her head as she mumbles, “Lots of it. Stat.”</p><p>“Two large, to go?”</p><p>“Uh huh.”</p><p>Truthfully, she’d like to stay at the diner and drink about twenty cups of her own, but since it’s apparently her fault they slept in, she’d been ordered to get the Queen her caffeine fix. They’d overslept so long that by the time they woke up and came downstairs, Henry had already gone to school and they were both late for work.</p><p>Her being late is less of a hassle than it is for Regina, which is why Emma had decided to simply take the blame and go and do what she’d been told to. That, and the fact Regina had put her in one hell of a daze with a brain melting kiss before making the demand and unceremoniously pushing her out the front door. She hadn’t gotten a single word of protest in, and genuinely had not cared in the slightest at the time.</p><p>She cares a little now, which is why she stays a few minutes longer when Red brings out the coffees. Red notices her still there when she’s done taking other people's orders, and walks back over to her.</p><p>“Shouldn’t you…” She gestures to the untouched coffee.</p><p>“Yes,” Emma replies, not moving.</p><p>“Um, so why are you still here?”</p><p>“I’m having a brief tantrum,” she admits shamelessly.</p><p>“Is this a roleplaying thing?” Red smirks. “You’re the disobedient child and Regina’s your mo-”</p><p>“Don’t finish that,” Emma interrupts, “and no, she’s just bossy.”</p><p>“Hasn’t she always been?”</p><p>Lips twitching because <em> yes </em>, Regina has always been pretty bossy, Emma concedes, “I’m tired and less appreciative of it than usual.”</p><p>“She keep you up all night?”</p><p>Red wiggles her eyebrows and Emma can’t help but snort. “Something like that.”</p><p>“Damn, I’d be running back to her.”</p><p>Emma narrows her eyes. “You have your own.”</p><p>Red grins. “Yeah I do.”</p><p>“Good?”</p><p>“Great,” she says, her eyes glazing over a little, thoughts of Zelena no doubt filling her mind much in the same way Regina fills Emma’s.</p><p>“Awesome.” Emma sighs after another moment, then stands with a yawn. She’d already missed Regina the moment she was out the door, Red just made it worse. “Back to the slavedriver.”</p><p>“Have fun.”</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p>“This is warm,” Regina says as soon as Emma hands her the cup.</p><p>Emma shrugs, already across the room and falling onto the sofa in the corner. “So magic it hot.”</p><p>Regina does just that, taking a sip before she asks, “Rebelling already?”</p><p>The question reminds Emma of Red’s roleplaying comment. She grimaces. “You’re not my mother.”</p><p>“I could have been your gr-”</p><p>“Shut up,” Emma grumbles, not needing the reminder. <em> Never </em> needing the reminder. Regina raises an eyebrow. “I don’t like mornings.”</p><p>“I am aware,” she says, setting her coffee down on the desk behind her. “ Come here.”</p><p>Sighing, Emma stands up and walks over to her.  “What?”</p><p>Regina reaches out, slipping her fingers beneath the waistband of Emma’s jeans and tugging her forward. “I’m attracted to a child.”</p><p>“Sicko.” Emma feels the firm tap on her ass, not quite a spank but close. “Don’t do that,” she murmurs, pressing her forehead against a shoulder. “You’re too hot for it to be a punishment.”</p><p>“Who says I was punishing you?”</p><p>“Fine, I’m too tired to enjoy it.”</p><p>“You’re lucky you brought me coffee, otherwise I might start to wonder what it is you’re bringing to this relationship.”</p><p>Emma, very slowly, raises her head to give her the glare the comment deserves. </p><p>Regina smiles sweetly and kisses her.</p><p>All is forgiven.</p><p>“One day that’s not going to work.”</p><p>“Well,” she drawls, patting Emma on the backside before pushing her away and circling around the desk to her chair. “If that day ever comes, I’m sure I’ll think of something else to pacify my big, bad Sheriff.”</p><p>"Why do I put up with you?"</p><p>Looking up at her, Regina smiles genuinely, her eyes soft and full of affection. "Let me know when you figure that out, so I can keep doing it."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Been super busy and this is way too short, but it's been so LONG and I felt bad. Enjoy. I'll try not to take too long to write the next chapter, which will hopefully also be longer.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>From the couch, where they’d just been making out because that’s what their ‘lunches’ consist of now, Emma stares at Regina, perplexed. “A date,” she repeats what she just heard. </p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>“Before we have sex.” Regina nods and Emma blinks. Slowly. She thought there was a slight chance she’d heard wrong, but apparently not.  “Why?”</p>
<p>“Because I deserve romance.”</p>
<p>“You do,” she agrees. She would never argue that, and she had every intention of taking Regina on a date. Multiple dates, in fact, before and after they’d had sex.  “I just don’t understand why it’s a prerequisite to sex.”</p>
<p>“Well-”</p>
<p>Emma gestures dismissively. She does know, actually. It’s those stupid ass movies where the guy wines and dines the woman before she ‘rewards’ him at the end of the third date. Regina thinks that’s the way this world is, but Emma is going to set her straight. No way is she going to be one of those losers. “I’ll take you out,” she says, “but we’re not having sex afterwards.”</p>
<p>“We’re not?”</p>
<p>“No. You’re ridiculous.” Emma stands and snaps her fingers, conjuring her best dress shirt and trousers straight onto her body. “Let’s go.”</p>
<p>“But I haven’t cha-”</p>
<p>“Your natural state of dress is runway model, you don’t need to change,” she interrupts, grabbing Regina’s hand and pulling her up from the couch. They’re already out the door when it occurs to her that she has no idea where they’d even go on a date in their backwater town. “Do we even have a restaurant here?”</p>
<p>“No.”</p>
<p>Emma sighs and conjures her phone to hand. She calls their son.</p>
<p>“Ma?”</p>
<p>“Hey Kid, I’m taking your mother to Boston, we’ll be gone until tomorrow night.”</p>
<p>He’s silent for a moment, voice hesitant but hopeful when he asks, “Do I have to stay with grandma and grandpa?”</p>
<p>“Eh.” Regina likely won’t agree, but Emma feels he’s old enough now to stay home on his own. He’s far better behaved and a hell of a lot more responsible than she was at that age, and by then she’d been on her own for years. “You’re fifteen, just go home when you’re done there and don’t destroy the house.”</p>
<p>“Sweet! I’m gonna-”</p>
<p>“Talk to your mother and do every single thing she tells you,” she interrupts and hands Regina the phone, ignoring the glare she receives as she coaxes the irate love of her life into the bug.</p>
<p>She gently closes the door and rounds the car, settling into the driver’s seat. She’s backing out of the driveway when Regina hangs up the phone and turns to stare at her. Emma feels the gaze as if it’s burning a hole in her cheek.</p>
<p>“Is this when we finally have our first fight?” She murmurs, keeping her eyes on the road.</p>
<p>“We’ve had a dozen and more fights,” Regina replies, confusion in her tone. “What are you on about?”</p>
<p>Emma glances at her briefly. “Our last fight was when I came back from New York and stupidly tried to keep Henry away from you.”</p>
<p>“You were trying to protect my feel-”</p>
<p>“Yes,” she interrupts, sighing as she smiles, unable not to because that definitely wasn’t how Regina understood it while it was happening. She’d been livid. “I just mean, it’s been a while. I keep wondering when the next will be.”</p>
<p>“You want us to fight?”</p>
<p>“No, it’s…” She sighs again, slowing as they close in on the town line. “It’s just a thing that happens in a relationship. We fight, one day, for the first time as a couple, and then we make up…”</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>Emma opens her mouth, but closes it almost immediately, frowning. It’s a good question. Sure, couples fight and it’s seen as perfectly normal because no two people are ever going to agree about every single little thing, but why is she <em> expecting </em> it. They don’t <em> have </em> to fight just because it’s <em> normal</em>. </p>
<p>“I… don’t know.”</p>
<p>“Well,” Regina drawls, “I’m sure you’ll annoy me and I’ll yell at you at some point, but it seems a rather asinine thing to be waiting for.”</p>
<p>Emma laughs. She’s right, as usual. “I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it, but the making up might be nice.”</p>
<p>“So we can skip the bad part and go straight to making up,” Regina says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Honestly, and you think <em> I’m </em> ridiculous.”</p>
<p>Shaking her head, Emma grins. “I think you’re smart,” she corrects. “A smart, sexy lady that I’m beyond happy to be taking on a date, and who I might end up making out with later.”</p>
<p>Regina places a hand on her thigh, and squeezes gently. “No might about it,” she says, “now before we get too far down the road, call your parents and see if they’ll cover for us tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“Knew I was forgetting something,” Emma mutters, snatching the phone out of her hand when Regina holds it up for her.</p>
<p>Regina smirks.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, still not long like I hoped, but it didn't take me a month to write and I wrote something I generally refuse to, so what the hell.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Her parents do agree to cover for them and it takes four hours and twenty three minutes for them to reach Boston. They would have been there sooner, but as they’d passed the fourth or fifth gas station along the journey, Regina decided she needed chocolate and who was Emma to </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> reverse down the road and get her some? They were in no rush, and besides, the smile she got when she returned to the car with an entire bag of chocolate candy goodness would have been worth it alone. The fact Regina then shared it with her, feeding her bits and pieces while she drove, was an unexpected, and weirdly arousing, bonus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma almost regrets laying down that no sex rule earlier, but she is, unfortunately, far too stubborn and proud to go back on her word. Regina can feed her, touch her, tease her and give her all the looks she wants, but Emma is going to stick to her word... even if it kills her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Which it might.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are the eyes necessary?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina smirks, dark red lips against her wine glass. The eyes in question have been undressing her since they sat down for dinner, and she’s fairly certain Regina has been fantasizing about doing a lot more than that if the way she occasionally spaces out is any indication.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dating wasn’t a bad idea, but it turns out to be a rather unnecessary one. They know each other as well as they ever will. They work together, live together, have spent the last five years protecting each other, saving each other, fighting one another. Thanks to her snooping, Regina pretty much knows all about Emma’s childhood and everything before Storybrooke, and thanks to having a nosy gossip for a mother, not to mention all the magic memory mumbo jumbo she’s had to deal with, Emma knows more about Regina than she probably should.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dating is pointless in their case, and yet, despite the silence and obvious desire to fling herself across the table at the infuriatingly attractive woman opposite her, Emma is enjoying herself. She knows people here, including the owner of a relatively upscale italian restaurant who’d been ecstatic to offer them the first available table when they walked in. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina hadn’t been surprised she knew the owner, nor was she bothered about having to wait, and had eagerly dragged Emma over to the bar where they almost managed to finish a full bottle of whiskey before a waiter came and got them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As far as dates go, Emma can’t think of a better one.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re staring.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re hard to look away from,” she replies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina laughs and maybe Emma should be insulted, but she’s not. If anyone had used such a line on her, she’d probably have reacted the same way. Besides, hearing Regina’s laugh will always cause her joy before anything else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ready for dessert?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina hums, and so they order a little bit of everything. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s too much and not enough at the same time. There’s no way anyone would expect them to eat everything that arrives, but there also isn’t enough dessert in the world for Emma to get enough of the pleasure that crosses Regina’s face every time she takes a bite of something, especially when joined by more hums- sexier hums that send tingles down her spine and cause warmth to pool in certain parts of her body.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re teasing me again,” she says, mock scowling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can’t help that you’re extremely attracted to me,” Regina purrs, and this time Emma is the one who laughs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina is in her element, here in the dim lighting surrounded in varied shades of red, a smooth melody playing overhead. The atmosphere suits her, which doesn’t surprise Emma at all. She knew before they arrived that the restaurant screamed romance, and she’s known for five whole years that if Regina is one thing above all else, then she is seduction personified.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re going to turn me into a liar,” Emma murmurs, a hum of her own rumbling in her throat as Regina offers her a spoonful of something creamy and sweet, the dessert melting in her mouth as she leans back in her chair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“One can but hope.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I should have just waited a few hours before posting the last chapter, but whatever, here's some more of the date.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There’s a little too much alcohol in Emma’s system and Regina has drunk far more than her. Tess, the restaurant owner, tells her to leave the bug where it is, so Emma does. They walk the two blocks to the hotel she’d had reserved for them on the drive there. She doesn’t know the owners, but she knows a foster brother who’s married to one of their granddaughters. He’d been about as happy to hear from her as Tess had been, and was more than willing to help her out; probably because of the many times she’d saved him from getting his ass handed to him in middle school.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina was a little more interested about that one, especially when Emma promised to get drinks with him and ‘the boys’ sometime in the near future. Regina had asked if she intended to take her along and introduce her. She hadn’t, but only because it hadn’t occurred to her to do so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She would.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She’d take Regina wherever her heart desired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Including the coffee shop they’re about to pass that has Regina tugging her in that direction.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s almost midnight and long past when Emma usually stops drinking coffee for the day, but the idea of being awake for hours yet appeals to her, if only because she’ll have the woman she loves for company.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She guides Regina to a table in the back, then saunters up to the counter to place their orders. She stands by gazing up at the menu while she waits, not at all conscious of what’s written there because her tipsy mind would rather focus on Regina and the happiness she has felt, and continues to feel, this night.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The lady behind the counter clears her throat, bringing Emma back to the present. She smiles, somewhat apologetic, not knowing how long she’d left the woman standing there. She pays for their coffees and turns, frowning when she sees Regina is no longer at the table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes dart around the room and within seconds, she finds Regina sat, instead, in a charming little reading nook in the corner. There are bookshelves and a small coffee table, but the draw, Emma knows, is the hideous but comfortable looking sofa Regina has made herself at home on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma walks over to her, feeling warm for reasons her mind can’t quite grasp in the moment. It takes only the passing of a coffee cup and a look for her to understand; Regina wants her close, without the distance of a table between them, a shoulder to rest her weary head and a body to curl up against.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina’s cute when she’s drunk, and Emma’s already smitten mind falls for her all over again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is the ugliest sofa I’ve ever seen,” she says. It’s orange with ghastly flowers that look as though the only way they could have gotten there is if someone had projectile vomited them onto the fabric.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina hums an agreeable sound. “It reminded me of your mother.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Emma snorts, glad she hadn’t taken a sip of her coffee as she’d intended a split-second before. “Ah, crap,” she replies, looking at the cushion beside her. “You’re right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aren’t I always?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” she concedes, slipping her arm behind Regina and resting her hand on a silk-clad hip that she can’t help but begin to stroke, fingers drawn to the softness and heat.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Regina shifts, turning into her, a nose pressed against her jaw as warm, softer lips press against her throat. Regina doesn’t kiss her, but it doesn’t matter because Emma still feels all the things she would have if Regina had.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes flutter shut and she simply enjoys the sensation as she squeezes the hip and drinks her coffee in the comfortable, companionable silence.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I did not intend this chapter to be this way, but when our lovely Queen decides you’re taking too long and takes over your story, you shut up and you let her.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Emma wakes with little to no feeling in her right arm. She suspects she knows why, but peeks her eye open just in case. Regina is laying on her, half on and half off, though that becomes the very last thing on Emma’s mind when she realizes she’s staring at Regina’s back. </p><p>Regina’s <em> naked </em> back.</p><p>She gazes while she considers their night. She remembers most of it. They’d waited almost two hours for a table at the restaurant, then spent almost another two hours having dinner. She remembers the coffee shop and almost falling asleep with Regina curled up beside her, and then the three cups of coffee she had upon realizing she’d been falling asleep, in a coffee shop of all places. She’d been a little wired when they left, but she also remembers the park where they’d stopped for a while, huddled together on a bench and listening to Regina talk about possible vacations in future with their son, and maybe even her parents if Snow didn’t annoy her too much in the coming months. She remembers stumbling into the hotel, near dead on her feet with Regina still wrapped around her because, and Emma loves knowing this, Regina is clingy and needy when drunk <em> and </em> when she’s tired. </p><p>Laying there, gazing and thinking, she begins to recall the moment Regina lost her shirt. Regina, after claiming to have loved every minute of the night between sleepy kisses, had pointed out the single flaw in Emma’s plan to whisk her away for a romantic evening; they had nothing to sleep in, to which Emma’s brain had decided to vocalize her thought of; why did they need to sleep in anything?</p><p>Regina had happily discarded her clothes after that and, to confirm her memory isn't misleading her, Emma raises the duvet to look down and finds herself also without most of her clothes.</p><p>“Huh.”</p><p>She had slept with Regina, in their underwear, and had somehow <em> still </em> not had sex with her.</p><p>“Huh,” she repeats.</p><p>She was either so far beyond tired, she’d gone insane, or she really did have impressive willpower.</p><p>Dropping the duvet, she turns her head to resume staring, eyes tracing the body of the snake tattoo she still has yet to see the end of. It emerges from Regina’s ribs and winds between her shoulder blades before disappearing over the cuff of her shoulder.</p><p>“Definitely insane,” Emma murmurs, the temptation to turn Regina over and finally discover where it ends already too strong for her useless, monkey brain to comprehend the bad idea that it is.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>She jerks, startled, gaze darting to the face smooshed into the pillow beside her head. “Huh?”</p><p>A warm, brown eye blinks sleepily back at her before becoming distracted and moving away from her face, down her jaw and her neck, stopping at her collarbone.</p><p>Suddenly, Regina shifts, coming closer, and Emma becomes conscious of the fact her arm had been nestled between warm, soft breasts, inhaling sharply as those same breasts are suddenly on top of her and crushing her own breasts beneath them.</p><p>“You’re naked,” Regina breathes, but before Emma can tell her not quite, they’re kissing, a tongue unceremoniously shoved into her mouth as Regina slides her arms under and around her neck, one hand threading in her hair while the other buries claw-like nails into her shoulder.</p><p>Arousal slams into her stomach immediately, stealing what little breath Regina had been willing to leave her. She wraps her own arms around the lean body on top of her and surrenders to the evident need in the kiss, and the slow rocking of hips down below.</p><p>It isn’t long before she realizes that, unlike her, Regina <em> is </em> naked. The way Regina moves is erratic, wanton and soon has the wet warmth of her desire sliding against Emma’s stomach. Emma moans into her mouth at the feeling of it, but breaks the kiss immediately after and croaks her name in a desperate plea.</p><p>“No,” Regina groans, sitting up and grabbing her by the shoulders, pinning Emma to the bed as she glares down at her. “No more denying me, Emma Swan.”</p><p>“But,” Emma tries to argue, but then fingers settle against her lips and she loses the words at the sheer want she sees overcome the glare.</p><p>“I have waited near half a century for someone like you,” Regina continues, drawing the hand away and cupping her cheek instead. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”</p><p>Many thoughts go through Emma’s mind- the recent wait being Regina’s own fault to begin with being the main one -in the seconds it takes for her to reach up and drag Regina back to her mouth. She discards them all in favour of another kiss as she trails her hands down the long, toned back, to hips that she curls her fingers around and encourages to move against her once more.</p><p>They do and Regina kisses her harder, moaning as more of her slick heat paints Emma’s skin. Emma begins to caress her, stroking her hips and over the swell of her ass, down the outside of her thighs, and back again. She does this multiple times and with each repetition, the rocking becomes more erratic, more needy.</p><p>Releasing her mouth with a gasp after a particularly hard thrust, Regina buries her face in Emma’s neck and practically whines for more. Not one to disappoint, Emma slides two fingers into her from behind, groaning as Regina sobs into her neck and pushes back, her pussy clamping down on the digits.</p><p>“Easy,” Emma whispers, waiting a moment before she begins to thrust, slowly in and out, loving the sensation of Regina’s walls pulsing around her fingers. “There we go.”</p><p>Every thrust is followed by a moan or a whimper, or a sound caught somewhere in between. Emma begins to smell Regina’s pleasure, the heady scent in combination with the sounds as Regina grows wetter making her mouth water.</p><p>Soon, Regina pushes up onto her hands, arching her back and providing Emma another wonderful view of full, perfect breasts. There, descending on a brown, beautifully hard nipple, Emma discovers the end of the snake and the arousal burns even hotter in her stomach. She reaches up, covering the serpent’s gaping maw as she begins to knead the soft, supple flesh and quickens the pace of her fingers, driving them in and out as hard as she can. </p><p>Regina gasps her name before it turns into a desperate chant, her body shuddering as she nears release. Emma captures her nipple between thumb and forefinger, and that’s all it takes, Regina crying out, slamming her hips back as her spine arches further and she comes, coating Emma’s fingers with the sweetest heat.</p>
  </div></div>
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